Research Outputs (Architecture and Planning)
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Item Redlining or renewal? the space-based construction of decay and its contestation through local agency in Brixton, Johannesburg(Taylor and Francis, 2017-04-21) Haferburg, Christoph; Huchzermeyer, MarieIn South Africa, space-based exclusion remains prevalent in many forms. In this paper, we focus on the "redlining" of selected neighbourhoods, a technique applied by banks to structure lending decisions in the property market. As a consequence of redlining, prospective home-owners may find it impossible to secure a bond in such an area. This rationale and its results have been described extensively in urban studies literature: zoning areas as "not credit-worthy" prevents investment and creates a self-fulfilling trajectory towards crime and grime. Residents in these neighbourhoods are subject to a practice of territorial stigmatization. This results in economic insecurity with various negative neighbourhood effects, e.g. individual disinvestment or slumlording. Redlining is currently not in the spotlight of media or research in South Africa. The structural effects of this practice, however, are significant. The translation of socio-spatial perceptions into financially excluding techniques is not prevented in South African legislation. The relevance of dissecting this conundrum is demonstrated in our case study of Brixton, one of Johannesburg’s socio-economically most diverse neighbourhoods. It is precisely in mixed areas such as Brixton on Johannesburg’s east-west axis where redlining is applied, effectively devaluing a process of unplanned socio-economic integration of over two decades. In our case study, however, we observe how some residents respond to this and successfully counter redlining by banks with a combination of individual and collective strategies. However, our case of local agency also demonstrates the huge effort that is needed to challenge the financial institutions’ spatial ideology.Item The struggle for in situ upgrading of informal settlements: Case studies from Gauteng(Development Southern Africa, 2009) Huchzermeyer, MarieDepartment of Housing released a new Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme in 2004, which makes in situ upgrading of informal settlements possible with minimal disruption to residents’ lives. To date, the new programme is not necessarily the municipalities’ choice when intervening in an informal settlement. This paper presents the case of three informal settlement communities in Gauteng province, which have struggled for recognition of basic principles of the informal settlement upgrading programme. Their requests have been met with great reluctance from local government. Through these cases, the paper seeks point to some of the critical re-skilling and capacity building areas that are necessary before local government can role out the informal settlement upgrading programme at scale.Item Enumeration as a grassroot tool towards. Independent report of a peer evaluation mission to Kisumu 2-4 October 2007.(GLOBAL Landtool Network, UN Habitat, 2008) Huchzermeyer, MarieGlobal Land Tool Network (GLTN) recognises community-based slum enumeration as a potential grassroots mechanism tool which could assist in achieving its objectives relating to land management and tenure security. This paper analyses a community-based slum enumeration exercise in Kisumu in relation to these objectives. The enumeration was carried out in Kisumu as part of a city-wide slum upgrading initiative. The paper draws on a peer evaluation that included interviews with slum upgrading stakeholders as well as community-based focus group discussions, mainly with enumerators. The paper finds that coordination of the slum upgrading initiative, and beyond this of wider and often competing city initiatives, is imperative for a grassroots enumeration exercise to link up effectively with the planning authorities and for grassroots trust to be sustained for ongoing verification and updating of the enumeration data. Key findings towards securing tenure include the importance of various forms of mobilisation that accompany enumeration, and of the informal and formal knowledge generation that results from the enumeration process.Item Enumeration as a Grassroot Tool Towards Securing Tenure in Slums: Insights from Kisumu, Kenya(Urban Forum (2009) 20:271–292, 2009) Huchzermeyer, MarieCommunity-based slum enumeration was carried out in Kisumu from 2005 to 2008 as part of a city-wide slum-upgrading initiative. This paper analyses this enumeration exercise particularly in relation to land management and tenure security. The paper draws on a peer evaluation that included interviews with slumupgrading stakeholders as well as community-based focus group discussions, mainly with enumerators. The paper finds that, for a grassroots enumeration exercise to be successful, grassroots trust must be sustained for ongoing verification and updating of the enumeration data and the enumeration must link up effectively with the planning authorities. Broader preconditions are the coordination of the slumupgrading initiative, and beyond this, of wider and often competing city initiatives. Key findings towards securing tenure include the importance of various forms of mobilisation that accompany enumeration and of the informal and formal knowledge generation that results from the enumeration process.Item Settlement informality: The importance of understanding change, formality, land and the informal economy.(Groupement de Recherche Internationale (GDRI). Workshop on Informality, Wits University. Johannesburg, 2008-07-03) Huchzermeyer, MarieIt is widely acknowledged that informal settlements and the processes that lead to their formation and perpetuation are poorly understood (see Environment and Urbanization, 1998; Roy, 2005; Smit, 2006; Misselhorn, 2008). In this paper I attempt to reflect on critical aspects of informality which my exposure to the current shifts and dynamics in the struggle for relevant informal settlement policy and intervention in South Africa have revealed. I start by reviewing the terms applied to settlement informality in South Africa and the focus of their meaning. I trace continuity to date of the conceptualisation that was inherent in apartheid policy, as well as recent shifts that emanate from eradication drives, which in turn reinforce a full circle back to apartheid thinking and practice on informal settlements. I then address what I perceive as important concepts in understanding settlement informality in the South African context – the continuous process of change, the centrality of land and the changing relationship to land, a much ignored formality that is present in informal settlements, and the interaction between settlement informality and the informal sector, particularly in relation to land. I use this to challenge the predominantly quantitative understanding of settlement informality on which city authorities base their intervention. Throughout, I use examples of informal settlements, debates and processes that I have been exposed to, not through structured research, but through active involvement in a small but growing network against repressive informal settlement eradication in South Africa spanning grassroots social movements, their housing rights lawyers and concerned academics, NGOs and practitioners.Item 'Slum' Upgrading and 'Slum' Eradication under MDG Seven Target Eleven(University of Rhodes. Sociology., 2008) Huchzermeyer, MarieThe modest MDG target on improving the lives of ‘slum’ dwellers occupies a complex and in some ways contradictory terrain. This chapter reviews the usage of the term ‘slum’ and its adoption into the Millennium Development Project. The slogan ‘Cities Without Slums’, which accompanies the target, has led to an initially unintended emphasis in official communication of the target. In order to explore the deviation between the norm that cities should not have ‘slums’ and the actual MDG target, the chapter reviews the role of norms and targets within the UN. Turning in more detail to MDG Seven Target Eleven, it compares the origin of Target Eleven with the trajectory that led to the adoption of the other MDG targets. Due to the World Bank’s role in the formulation of Target Eleven and its slogan, the chapter reviews World Bank urban policy at the time, as well as the World Bank’s subsequent shift to more directly embracing the urban poor and promoting informal settlement upgrading. The position of the urban economy and urban competitiveness within the World Bank’s policy of 2000 is relevant to understanding the coining of the slogan ‘Cities Without Slums’, as well as its utility to city beautification initiatives driven by the urban competitiveness agenda. The World Bank’s subsequent refinement in urban policy is not paralleled in high levelItem Does recent litigation bring us any closer to a right to the city?(University of Johannesburg, Workshop., 2009-10-30) Huchzermeyer, Marie"...the right to the city that our Constitution strives for is one of an equal right to the city. This has important components - Equal right to participate in decision-making - Equal right to access and use the city - Equal right to basic services"Item Ruling in Abahlali case lays solid foundation to build on(Defend Freedom - Democracy under Attack, Church Land Programme, Pietermaritzburg. 04 November 2009, 2009-11-04) Huchzermeyer, MarieABAHLALI baseMjondolo hit the headlines recently. First, attacks on Durban’s Kennedy Road informal settlement drew a ground swell of newsworthy international condemnation, including a statement from US intellectual Noam Chomsky. A week later, media reported on the outcome of Abahlali’s Constitutional Court appeal on the KwaZuluNatal slums act. What is Abahlali? And was anything really noteworthy about the ruling?